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EA's latest quarterly fiscal report included a stark admission: Battlefield V's sales fell way below expectations. This, combined with a severe drop in mobile-gaming revenue, led EA's executives to admit that they were "disappointed in our underperfomance" in fiscal Q3 2019.

BFV's sales to date, according to EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen, have reached 7.3 million copies across all platforms worldwide, which the company says is "one million less" than it had indicated in previous Q3 2019 guidance. Jorgensen didn't mince words: he blamed the drop in the series' uptake on the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson took the opportunity to confirm that BFV's battle royale mode, currently dubbed Firestorm, will launch in March of this year. Wilson did not offer further details about any monetization strategy for that mode; it currently requires that consumers buy the game's retail edition, much like the battle royale mode found in Activision's multiplayer-only game Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. (That Activision game includes additional microtransactions in its battle royale mode.)

The executives repeatedly blamed "intense competition" in that quarter for general underperformance, which Wilson clarified later as "Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Red Dead Redemption 2. (Fortnite's hugely popular battle royale mode launched well before the October 2018 start of the fiscal quarter in question.) Wilson added that BFV's release delay into November 2018 resulted in a "better game," but he cited "the combination of a poor start in our marketing campaign with a longer development cycle that put us in a more competitive window."

In addition to a lack of uptake on new mobile game Command and Conquer Rivals, EA also cited one delayed mobile game and "changes to broaden Madden Mobile's appeal" that "failed" to drive monetization. The company's net bookings for mobile-only products dropped in Q3 2019 to $142 million, compared to $183 million in the same quarter in fiscal year 2018—a drop of over 23 percent.

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The executives reminded investors that the EA Sports line of games and Ultimate Team microtransaction systems continue to drive revenue. "FIFA stands out as a robust franchise during a tumultuous time in the industry," Wilson said. Executives also praised new game Apex Legends' solid performance after launching 24 hours earlier, though Wilson made clear that its one-day metrics weren't a measure on which to base expectations just yet.

When pressed about EA's sales expectations for Anthem in the wake of a wonky public demo, Jorgensen said that EA still expects its first-quarter sales to reach roughly 5-6 million units. "We're comfortable with that based on what we're seeing in the outcome of both demos," Jorgensen added. "A lot of excitement, a lot of interest."

EA confirmed that a range of console-specific games is expected to launch by year's end, including a new Plants vs. Zombies "shooter," a new game in the Need for Speed series, and the Respawn-developed Star Wars game Jedi: Fallen Order. An additional Titanfall-related game is also slated to launch by year's end, but Wilson would not offer any further details about what shape that game might take (meaning: a remake of an existing Titanfall game isn't yet out of the question).

Wilson further clarified that Respawn has "two fully staffed teams, one focused on the shooter genre, and one focused on action-adventure." He also dodged questions about any new Battlefield-series games launching in 2019.

EA is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, which means the investor call began as soon as markets closed on Tuesday. After-hours trading suggests a severe drop in stock price from the day's close of $92.52 to somewhere below $76—already lower than the company's previous major low in late 2016.

"BFV's sales to date, according to EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen, have reached 7.3 million copies across all platforms worldwide, which the company says is "one million less" than it had indicated in previous Q3 2019 guidance. "

LOL it doesn't help that its unit price was immediately discounted as well. Instead of sales they should have brought up revenue.

"he blamed the drop in the series' uptake by the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch."

ALSO HAHAHA sure, having a cyborg zombie lady with a cricket bat in your WW shooter trailer and telling your customers that they are uneducated and shouldn't buy the game if they complain about that had nothing to do with it whatsofuckingever.

" Jorgensen didn't mince words: he blamed the drop in the series' uptake by the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch."

Exactly. More Battle Royale, EA....you'll show us....you'll show us *ALL*.

That's right, double down on the Battle Royale games, microtransactions, and looter shooters. Definitely not saturated markets with an enormous number of pre-existing and well developed options that will minimize your ability to capture a significant share of players. Just leaves more pent up demand for actually good developers like CDPR to capitalize on when they release Cyberpunk 2077

They sent me a survey email about Anthem. I gave it 2 out of 10, which is probably a little harsh; I'm sure there's a good game in there somewhere.

However, after 2 hours of connection errors, I managed to log in, and then couldn't invert the Y axis, which made it extremely difficult for me to play, like riding one of those trick bikes with reversed steering. This was supposed to be a demo, not a beta test.

They've been abusing their customers for so long, perhaps now they're losing money they're starting to listen? We can but hope!

They're so close on BFV but so far. Nobody buys BF for the single player and I haven't even tried it other than the forced entry sequence that I immediately bailed on. They should have dedicated all of those resources to more maps and equipment. Although I'd be shocked if battle royale is popular, they keep trying to shove new gamemodes on the player base and they all become ghost towns.

Gosh. I've been playing Battlefield since the original. I've played every version except Hardline.

I have BF V, but I play BF1. Battlefield V is stale, sterile and boring. They can't seem to get a handle on cheaters. It has none of the uniqueness that is BF1.

They seem to take their customers for granted, pumping out version after version with nothing of interest. Reminds me of the almost equally not-fun BF4. BF1 is still full of cheaters, and EA does nothing.

Adding the ability to build some sand-bags? Cmon - add something new and interesting.

" Jorgensen didn't mince words: he blamed the drop in the series' uptake by the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch."

I've never bought a Battlefield title specifically because they lack an adequate single player campaign. If they produced a historically accurate (even just accurate-ish) campaign in their game engine I'd be tripping over myself to buy it. . . . . but noooo, we get that bloody travesty they crapped out and now they blame their failure on "single players"

Hey EA, maybe if you would stop being a steaming pile of shit, gobbling up and shitting out franchises, ruining gameplay and choking the industry, you'd have a better run. But hey what do I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I always worry when game companies have bad quarters and blame it on their lack of flavor of the month money grab MTX filled trash titles. If they're wrong, it shows how out of touch with the gaming community as a whole... But if they're right? Oof.

Please, someone tell me that making good games can be a successful business model.

Do yourself a favor folks. Stop buying games with micro transactions. EA lead the charge in ruining gaming as we know it through micro transactions and backtracked after the otherwise masterpiece game battlefront II blew up in their face. Use your wallets to help them understand we do not micro transactions in video games.

If a game has even a single micro transaction of any kind than the game itself was in one way or another designed to get you to spend. It’s that question “how can we bake recurring revenue sources into this game without a subscription” that’s asked during initial development stages which leads to bad games.

Hey EA, maybe if you would stop being a steaming pile of shit, gobbling up and shitting out franchises, ruining gameplay and choking the industry, you'd have a better run. But hey what do I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

People WANT crappy smart-phone freemium junk, battle royales, no single player content, microtransactions and loot boxes!

And if you disagree, well screw you, go play a different game!

Hey look another company full of IP to ruin that we can absorb into the collective!

Boy, if only they had exclusive rights to one of the worlds most lucrative and iconic IPs, I bet they'd really impress us with the AAA quality gaming experiences and original stories they could create, no way they would squander it by only producing crappy freemium apps and pooping out the same contrived MTX driven online shooter every couple years.

Boy, if only they had exclusive rights to one of the worlds most lucrative and iconic IPs, I bet they'd really impress us with the AAA quality gaming experiences and original stories they could create, no way they would squander it by only producing crappy freemium apps and pooping out the same contrived MTX driven online shooter every couple years.

EA’s next Star Wars game will be called Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The company had previously looked to 2019 as a broad release window for its story-centered game, which is in currently in development with EA-owned studio and Titanfall creator Respawn Entertainment....little is known about the upcoming Star Wars title other than that it will be a third-person, single-player action game, and will be considered canon in the Star Wars universe.

Jorgensen didn't mince words: he blamed the drop in the series' uptake by the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch.

I can't wait for this company to die. I know it will take a lot of hardworking people with it, but the industry will be healthier without the cancerous growth known as Electronic Arts.

If this is all they have, they are done in shooters. Fortnite is enormous and it's not like any alternatives have disappeared, Overwatch, CoD, Siege, etc. A battle Royale mode isn't going to save them.

Talking up the FUT/HUT revenue is a bit precarious right now as EA is in for a world of hurt in the EU follows Belgium's lead on that front. I'm betting EA makes a metric shit-ton of money off FUT packs in EU countries from FIFA.

"BFV's sales to date, according to EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen, have reached 7.3 million copies across all platforms worldwide, which the company says is "one million less" than it had indicated in previous Q3 2019 guidance. "

LOL it doesn't help that its unit price was immediately discounted as well. Instead of sales they should have brought up revenue.

"he blamed the drop in the series' uptake by the developers' focus on a single-player campaign, as opposed to having a promised battle royale mode ready for fans in time for the game's launch."

ALSO HAHAHA sure, having a cyborg zombie lady with a cricket bat in your WW shooter trailer and telling your customers that they are uneducated and shouldn't buy the game if they complain about that had nothing to do with it whatsofuckingever.

Honestly? If the game were set in an alternate dieselpunk universe instead of acting like an accurate depiction of the conflict of that time people would have been more lenient.